Update: Voting has closed, and the winner of Dictionary.com’s March Madness Slang Competition is Karen! We started this contest with 64 words, and now after the highly anticipated face-off between our final two, Karen and OK boomer, we have a winner. It’s Karen! So who is Karen, anyway? According to our definition, Karen is a mocking slang term for an entitled, obnoxious, middle-aged white woman. Especially …
Feeling shirty? Sashay through this week’s soothing Word of the Day Quiz. | January 21 – 27, 2019 If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Interested in Words of the Day from the past? Check out this one that we brought to life … Tell us your favorite word from this week below (and share it with your …
If someone asked you to name the most beautiful word or phrase in English, how would you choose? Would it be based on the meaning of the word? How it sounds? How it’s spelled? There are some words, like “love,” “comely,” or “demure,” that seem like solid contenders. But the compound word that some believe to be the most inherently beautiful will likely come as …
On February 22, 2017, news of the discovery of seven new exoplanets was announced by NASA. This may be a new word for you non-NASA geeks out there. Let’s examine the difference between planets and exoplanets. A planet is sometimes also called a major planet. It’s any of the eight large heavenly bodies revolving about the sun and shining by reflected light. In the order …
They say crime doesn’t pay, but people who commit extortion and blackmail would probably disagree. Are these criminals committing the same crime, or will they face different charges? In this article, we will define the words extortion and blackmail, break down the difference between them, and give examples of how they might be applied to different criminal scenarios. What is the difference between extortion and …
Snowbirds and townies alike are wild about this week’s Word of the Day Quiz. | February 11 – 17, 2019 If the quiz doesn’t display, please try opening in the Chrome browser. Interested in Words of the Day from the past? Check out this one that we brought to life … Tell us your favorite word from this week below (and share it …
Most of us know what the word lying means, but what happens when someone carefully skirts the truth instead of telling a bold-faced whopper? Politicians, in particular, are well-known for making use of equivocal language as a way of hiding their true actions. What other ways can we describe language that hides the truth? What is hyperbole? Tweens and teens tend to use hyperbole, otherwise …
Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, is our neighbor, and it has long captivated the human mind and spirit. Think of Martians, a go-to word for extraterrestrial life since science-fiction imagined inhabitants there in the late 19th century. But, how did Mars it get its name? Who is the mythological Mars? The planet Mars is named after the Roman god of war, Mars, considered …
